The effect of mindfulness intervention on internet negative news perception and processing: An implicit and explicit approach.

The internet facilitates the formation of the information society while also accelerating the viral spread of negative news and negative emotions, increasing public uncertainty and depression and impeding consensus, especially in the post-pandemic period. Mindfulness intervention, which has a positive effect on attention focus, self-regulation, and subjective wellbeing, is proven to mitigate negative emotional effects, and even alter mind patterns. The study aimed to give insight into the effect of mindfulness in the new media field, concerning trait mindfulness improvement, emotional arousal and regulation, and implicit attitudes from the perspective of intra-personal communication and positive communication. The study conducted a randomized pre-test-post-test control group design, with 3 (condition groups: mindfulness vs. placebo vs. control) × 2 (test times: pre vs. post). Participants who were exposed to negative news coverage with negative emotional arousal received 14 consecutive days of intervention. The results showed that mindfulness training can improve trait mindfulness effectively on the whole, especially in facets of describing, acting awareness, and non-judgment, and mitigate the negative effect from bad information coverage, while mindfulness intervention on mind patterns and expectations on controversial issues still awaited future empirical research. The present study intended to bridge the bonding between positive psychology and new media studies by focusing on individual attention improvement and negative emotion regulation, in the expectation that trait mindfulness can be beneficial in individual infodemic syndromes such as judgment bias and information exhaustion, and avoidance.

The implicit and explicit attitudes of Chinese university students towards genetic modification.

Genetic modification (GM) technology is a technology that changes the characteristics of species through changing the genes of species. Public attitudes toward GM technology have an important impact on the technology's development. Previous surveys conducted in China used to assess public attitudes toward GM have mostly focused on the explicit level, which is recognized and acknowledged through the self-report method. However, the corresponding research on the implicit level is still lacking, which is unconscious and automated. The public attitudes toward the complete concept of GM are still unclear. In order to fill this gap, this study uses a questionnaire survey (Study 1), and interaction verification of the SC-IAT paradigm and the GNAT paradigm (Study 2) to investigate the explicit and implicit attitudes of Chinese university students towards GM. The role of education level is also examined in this study. The results show that the explicit attitudes of Chinese university students towards GM are generally positive, and the main effect of education level is significant. Finally, the mediating effect of the cognitive level between education level and explicit GM attitude is significant. However, the implicit GM attitudes of university students are generally negative, and neither the main effect of education level nor the mediating effect of cognition level is significant. University students as the future consumers and an important part of public opinion, their attitude to GM will affect the development of GM technology to a large extent. This study provides a theoretical basis for improving Chinese university students' attitudes toward GM, and also provides new research ideas for the public view of GM.

Taking a walk through time: aversive memory re-experiencing may be linked to spatio-temporal distance.

Background: Individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often report intrusive memories that appear to lack the appropriate spatio-temporal context. Objective: We examined whether focusing on the spatio-temporal context of aversive autobiographical memories reduces negative emotions, appraisals, and re-experiencing symptoms. Methods: We recruited 109 healthy adults and had them rate emotionality, vividness, and re-experiencing of an aversive autobiographical memory. Furthermore, we assessed automatic associations of idiosyncratic memory triggers with the concepts 'past' vs. 'now', and self-reported sense of memory closure and distancing. To manipulate spatio-temporal memory (re-)organization, the experimental group (n = 53) performed a lifeline exercise in virtual reality (VR), where participants symbolically placed memory triggers along a path representing their own personal life story. The control group (n = 56) completed a non-personalized VR task. Results: We found a marked decrease in negative emotions, negative appraisals, and re-experiencing in the following week, but on average, the lifeline exercise was not superior to the control condition. However, those in the lifeline group with stronger trigger-past associations subsequently exhibited a more pronounced reduction in re-experiencing. Also, participants with a higher subjective sense of memory distancing reported less re-experiencing. Conclusions: The findings lend tentative support for theoretical assumptions about PTSD, but the potential causal role of automatic associations with spatio-temporal information remains to be clarified.

Antecedentes: Las personas con trastorno de estrés postraumático (TEPT) con frecuencia informan recuerdos intrusivos que parecen carecer del contexto espacio-temporal adecuado.Objetivo: Examinamos si centrarse en el contexto espacio-temporal de los recuerdos autobiográficos aversivos reduce las emociones negativas, las valoraciones, y los síntomas de re-experimentación.Métodos: Reclutamos 109 adultos sanos y les pedimos que calificaran la emocionalidad, vivacidad y re-experimentación de un recuerdo autobiográfico aversivo. Además, evaluamos las asociaciones automáticas de los desencadenantes de la memoria idiosincrática con los conceptos de 'pasado' vs 'ahora' y la sensación auto-reportada de la cercanía o lejanía del recuerdo. Para manipular la (re-)organización de la memoria espacio-temporal, el grupo experimental (n = 53) realizo un ejercicio de Línea de Vida en realidad virtual (RV), donde los participantes simbólicamente pusieron los gatilladores del recuerdo a lo largo de un sendero que representaba sus propias historias de vida personales. El grupo control (n = 56) completo una tarea de RV no personalizada.Resultados: Encontramos una disminución marcada de las emociones negativas, valoraciones negativas y re-experimentación en la semana siguiente, pero en promedio, el ejercicio de la Línea de Vida no fue superior a la condición de control. Sin embargo, aquellos del grupo de la Línea de Vida con asociaciones más fuertes de los gatilladores del pasado exhibieron subsecuentemente una disminución más pronunciada en la re-experimentación. Tambien, los participantes con un sentido de la memoria de distanciamiento subjetivamente más alta informaron menor re-experimentación.Conclusiones: Los hallazgos brindan un apoyo tentativo a las suposiciones teóricas acerca del TEPT, pero el posible papel causal de las asociaciones automáticas con la información espacio-temporal aún no se ha aclarado.

Implicit and Explicit Self-Identification as a Drug User in People Who Used Heroin and Methamphetamine.

Implicit and explicit self-identification as a drug user specific to the substance used (e.g., viewing oneself as a drinker) have been examined, as they relate to that drug use. However, studies have rarely explored whether identifying as a "drug user" differs implicitly and explicitly for people who use different drugs and how this identification relates to drug-use behaviors or abstinence. This study examined implicit and explicit self-identification as a "drug user" and their associations with drug-use behaviors and abstinence in people who used heroin (PWUH) and people who used methamphetamine (PWUM). Forty PWUH and 35 PWUM in a rehabilitation facility completed the single category implicit association test (SC-IAT), which evaluated implicit associations of a "drug user" with "self," and a measure of explicit self-identification as a "drug user." Prior drug-use behaviors and current abstinence duration of the participants were assessed. PWUH demonstrated stronger implicit "self + drug user" associations and higher levels of explicit self-identification as a "drug user" than PWUM. A higher frequency of drug use was associated with higher levels of explicit drug-user self-identity, and longer abstinence duration was positively related to stronger implicit "self + drug user" associations in PWUH. The drug type of heroin (vs. methamphetamine) participants used was associated with a higher frequency of use, which, in turn, predicted higher levels of explicit drug-user self-identity. Given that the PWUH group differs from the PWUM group in terms of implicit and explicit self-identification as "drug users," it would be more appropriate to address drug-user self-identity of individuals according to the substance they use rather than as a collective group.

Implicit attitude of nurses towards doctors based on single-category implicit association test / 中国职业医学

OBJECTIVE: To measure the implicit attitude of nurses towards doctors and analyze its influencing factors. METHODS: A total of 356 nurses were selected as study subjects by convenient sampling method. Their implicit attitude towards doctors was measured by Single Category Implicit Association Test. The related influencing factors were analyzed. RESULTS: The response time of nurses on incompatible tasks was higher than that on compatible tasks [(0.87±0.19) vs(0.76±0.15) s,P<0.01]. The median(M) of D value was 0.34. D value of junior college group was higher than that of undergraduate and above group(M: 0.40 vs 0.27, P<0.01). D value in the nurse group was higher than that in the nurse practitioner group and nurse-in-charge and above group(M: 0.43 vs 0.33, 0.43 vs 0.23, P<0.05). D value of the informal staff group was higher than that of the formal staff group(M: 0.35 vs 0.19, P<0.05). The results of ordered multiple Logistic regression analysis showed that establishment was an independent influencing factor of the implicit attitude of nurses towards doctors(P<0.05), after excluding the influence of confounding factors. CONCLUSION: The implicit attitude of nurses towards doctors is positive and mainly affected by the establishment.

Multisensory Facial Stimulation Implicitly Improves Evaluations of the Goodness of Attractive Others.

It has been well demonstrated that shared multisensory experiences between the self and others can influence the social perception of out-group members. Previous research has shown that the illusion of ownership over a dark-skinned rubber hand or full virtual body generated less negative implicit bias against people with dark skin. However, less is known about how perceived attractiveness difference between self and other affects social perception toward those others after shared multisensory experience. The present study assessed whether shared multisensory experience between the self and attractive others would affect the implicit evaluation of goodness of others. Seventy-three women participated in the study. After the visuotactile multisensory stimulation procedure, participants were administered the Single Category Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT), which presents two attributes (good and bad) and one concept (other). Results showed that the more attractive the faces are, the more positive their implicit evaluation becomes after the synchronous tactile stimulation. This result suggests that shared multisensory experience makes people feel more positive toward others who have positive attribute. This finding suggests that self-other blurring in social contexts might be a compelling factor in evaluating other people positively.

Intervention study on the stigma of mental illness in college students / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

Objective@#To investigate the automatic implicit attitude and explicit stigma of mental illness, and the intervention effectiveness on the stigma of mental illness in college students.@*Methods@#Single category implicit association test(SC-IAT) and questionnaire survey were used to study the degree of implicit and explicit mental illness stigma among 30 college students of Peking University, and investigated the effect of two strategies, education and contact.Data were analyzed by SPSS 22.0 with t-test and variance analysis.@*Results@#The D values of SC-IAT in the three dimensions of cognitive evaluation, emotional response and behavioral tendency of college students were 0.29±0.37, 0.24±0.43, and 0.10±0.43.There was a statistically significant difference between the cognitive evaluation dimension, the emotional response dimension and 0(t=4.069, P<0.01; t=2.925, P<0.01). There was no statistically significant difference between the implicit stigma and the 0 in the behavioral tendency dimension(t=1.423, P=0.167). In the explicit stigma, the mercy dimension score(1.94±0.61) was lower than the median, and the difference was statistically significant(t=-12.286, P<0.01), while the scores of anger dimension(4.62±0.44) and fear dimension (4.55±0.31) were higher than the median(t=13.243, 3.200, both P<0.01). There were no significant differences in the values of implicit and external stigma among pre-intervention, education intervention and after contact(P>0.05). The correct rates of questions "Which of the following situations do you think are considered mentally unhealthy? " and "Which of the following disorders are mental illnesses" (42±13)%, (54±13)%) increased after receiving educational intervention ((49±12)%, (64±13)%), the difference was statistically significant (F=3.682, P<0.05; F=3.576, P<0.05).@*Conclusion@#College students have implicit mental illness stigma, educational and contact intervention strategies can help improve college students' understanding of relevant knowledge, and cannot improve the level of implicit stigma of college students on mental illness.

Intervention study on the stigma of mental illness in college students / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

Objective To investigate the automatic implicit attitude and explicit stigma of mental illness,and the intervention effectiveness on the stigma of mental illness in college students.Methods Single category implicit association test(SC-IAT) and questionnaire survey were used to study the degree of implicit and explicit mental illness stigma among 30 college students of Peking University,and investigated the effect of two strategies,education and contact.Data were analyzed by SPSS 22.0 with t-test and variance analysis.Results The D values of SC-IAT in the three dimensions of cognitive evaluation,emotional response and behavioral tendency of college students were 0.29±0.37,0.24±0.43,and 0.10±0.43.There was a statistically significant difference between the cognitive evaluation dimension,the emotional response dimension and 0(t=4.069,P＜0.01;t=2.925,P＜0.01).There was no statistically significant difference between the implicit stigma and the 0 in the behavioral tendency dimension (t=1.423,P=0.167).In the explicit stigma,the mercy dimension score(1.94±0.61) was lower than the median,and the difference was statistically significant(t=-12.286,P＜ 0.01),while the scores of anger dimension (4.62 ± 0.44) and fear dimension (4.55±0.31) were higher than the median (t=13.243,3.200,both P＜0.01).There were no significant differences in the values of implicit and external stigma among pre-intervention,education int.ervention and after contact(P＞0.05).The correct rates of questions "Which of the following situations do you think are considered mentally unhealthy?" and "Which of the following disorders are mental illnesses" (42± 13)％,(54± 13) ％) increased after receiving educational intervention ((49 ± 12) ％,(64± 13) ％),the difference was statistically significant (F=3.682,P＜0.05;F=3.576,P＜ 0.05).Conclusion College students have implicit mental illness stigma,educational and contact intervention strategies can help improve college students' understanding of relevant knowledge,and cannot improve the level of implicit stigma of college students on mental illness.

How becoming a mother shapes implicit and explicit responses to infant cues.

This study (a) investigates effects of the transition to motherhood on implicit and explicit responses to infant cues; (b) assesses influences of prior parenting and delivery experiences on implicit and explicit responses to infant cues; and (c) investigates relations between implicit and explicit responses to infant cues and parenting beliefs. A total of 45 pregnant women were followed from the sixth month of pregnancy to the third month after the childbirth and were administered a Single Category Implicit Association Test, a semantic differential scale, the Adult Parental Acceptance-Rejection scale, and the Parental Style Questionnaire. The transition to motherhood influenced explicit not implicit responses; only implicit responses were shaped by prior parenting experiences and mode of delivery; and parenting beliefs were related in independent and different ways to implicit and explicit evaluations. These findings indicate that implicit responses are valid and meaningful indices of maternal responsiveness to infants.

Effects of Chocolate Deprivation on Implicit and Explicit Evaluation of Chocolate in High and Low Trait Chocolate Cravers.

Diet failures are often attributed to an increase in cravings for attractive foods. However, accumulating evidence shows that food cravings actually decrease during energy-restricting weight-loss interventions. The current study aimed at elucidating possible mechanisms that may explain how and under which circumstances food cravings in- or decrease during dieting. Specifically, decreases in food cravings during weight-loss diets may be due to effects of energy restriction (homeostatic changes) and to effects of avoiding specific foods (hedonic changes). Thus, we used a selective, hedonic deprivation (i.e., restricting intake of a specific food in the absence of an energy deficit) that precludes homeostatic changes due to energy restriction. Furthermore, interindividual differences in food craving experiences might affect why some individuals are more prone to experience cravings during dieting than others. Thus, we investigated whether a selective deprivation of chocolate would in- or decrease craving and implicit preference for chocolate as a function of trait-level differences in chocolate craving. Participants with high and low trait chocolate craving (HC, LC) refrained from consuming chocolate for 2 weeks but otherwise maintained their usual food intake. Both groups underwent laboratory assessments before and after deprivation, each including explicit (i.e., state chocolate craving) and implicit measures (i.e., Single Category Implicit Association Test, SC-IAT; Affect Misattribution Procedure, AMP). Results showed that hedonic deprivation increased state chocolate craving in HCs only. HCs also showed more positive implicit attitudes toward chocolate than LCs on the SC-IAT and the AMP irrespective of deprivation. Results help to disambiguate previous studies on the effects of dieting on food cravings. Specifically, while previous studies showed that energy-restricting diets appear to decrease food cravings, the current study showed that a selective, hedonic deprivation in the absence of an energy deficit increases food cravings. However, this effect can only be observed for individuals with high trait craving levels. Thus, if attractive foods are strictly avoided through a selective deprivation, HCs are at risk to experience craving bouts in the absence of an energy deficit. As implicit preference was unaffected by chocolate deprivation, strong implicit preference for chocolate likely characterize a stable mechanism that drives consumption in HCs.

Adults' implicit associations to infant positive and negative acoustic cues: Moderation by empathy and gender.

In this study a novel auditory version of the Single Category Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT-A) was developed to investigate (a) the valence of adults' associations to infant cries and laughs, (b) moderation of implicit associations by gender and empathy, and (c) the robustness of implicit associations controlling for auditory sensitivity. Eighty adults (50% females) were administered two SC-IAT-As, the Empathy Quotient, and the Weinstein Noise Sensitivity Scale. Adults showed positive implicit associations to infant laugh and negative ones to infant cry; only the implicit associations with the infant laugh were negatively related to empathy scores, and no gender differences were observed. Finally, implicit associations to infant cry were affected by noise sensitivity. The SC-IAT-A is useful to evaluate the valence of implicit reactions to infant auditory cues and could provide fresh insights into understanding processes that regulate the quality of adult-infant relationships.

Relationships between implicit and explicit attitude toward death in college students / 中国心理卫生杂志

Objective:To explore the implicit attitude and explicit attitude toward death of college students,and the relationship between the two kinds of attitude.Methods:Totally 65 college studems participated in this study.The Single Category Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT,including cognition,affection and behavior) was used to exam the implicit attitude toward death of undergraduate students.The Death Attitude Profile-Revised (DAP-R,including five dimensions,i.e.,fear of death,death avoidance,death acceptance,escape acceptance,and neutral acceptance) was used to measure the explicit attitude.Results:Data of the SC-IAT indicated that the differences between the mean reaction time of the incompatible task and compatible in all three dimensions and the total SC-IAT were significant (Ps ＜0.01),and both the D scores of the total SC-IAT and three dimensions were larger than zero.The mean score of neutral acceptance was the highest in the five factors of SC-IAT.Relationships between the implicit effect of SC-IAT and the Mean scores of the DAP-R's five factors were not significant(Ps ＞ 0.05).Conclusion:The implicit attitude toward death of college students is negative,the explicit attitude toward death of college students is neutral.The implicit and explicit attitude toward death of college students is incongruent,and they are relatively independent.